The S&P 500 Index ($SPX) (SPY) on Thursday closed up +1.66%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI) (DIA) closed up +1.19%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX) (QQQ) closed up +3.36%. September E-mini S&P futures (ESU26) rose +1.65%, and September E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQU26) rose +3.28%.
Stock indexes settled sharply higher on Thursday after strong growth at Microsoft reassured investors that massive spending on artificial intelligence is starting to pay off. Microsoft surged more than +15% after reporting that Q4 Azure and other cloud services revenue ex-forex rose +43%, better than the consensus of +39.3% and the fastest quarterly growth in four years. Microsoft's positive earnings also eased AI spending concerns and fueled a sharp rally in chipmakers and AI-infrastructure stocks, pushing the overall market even higher. The markets will get another look at megacap earnings when Amazon.com and Apple report after Thursday’s close.